Deprivation
by Alien on Broadway
Summary: That’s it. Murphy is out to get me." Laura Cadman is having a bad day and needs something to cheer her up.


Title: Deprivation

Author: Alien on Broadway

Authors note: Just a quick one-shot I wrote while at work in the coffee shop. I don't own anything but I do love to borrow things from people and play with them.

Word count: 2461

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**Deprivation**

Laura was having a crappy day. The second she let one foot stick out from under the blanket and on to her carpeted floor she knew she should have stayed asleep. This wasn't a pleasant feeling when all you had to do was go to your comfortable desk job on planet earth but here in Atlantis it had a whole other meaning. There was only one solution: coffee.

The day only gat crappier or so it seemed. Her coffee maker had decided that today would be a good day to stop working. It could however still give you lukewarm water that had a slight coffee flavor to it. To say it wouldn't be enough for today was to be an understatement. "That's it. Murphy is out to get me" she said to herself.

Putting on her uniform before any coffee wasn't the way the universe operated. Had the polarity of the north and south pole been reversed? But that meant compasses wouldn't work anymore. And the Eskimos would get lost and lead the penguins to take over Europe. And then the countries would be ruled by birds. Well at least that wouldn't further ruin her day because she was in Atlantis.

She needed to get coffee somewhere but her options were limited. She could go to the canteen but the coffee they served there didn't differ that much from the sludge that her own machine was producing and that just wouldn't cut it.

Maybe the infirmary. That is where you could find the slightly better coffee but still nowhere near her standards. But if you spend a lot of time in the infirmary you could learn to tolerate it and train your body so it would at least have some effect. Another downside was that in the infirmary she would probably (with today's luck) run into Carson. Then she'd be at the receiving end (of another) "How to take care of your body" lecture. If he had the nerve to do that it'd probably be a good thing they were in the infirmary already. It would make it easier to clean the walls of all the blood and guts that would be getting spilled.

Maybe she should put up a warning sign: I don't have my daily intake of caffeine pumped into my veins yet so don't mess with me. And I know my way around a bomb. And a gun. And I also know people who can turn you warm water off. Ooooh there was an idea. An intravenous caffeine regulator for on their missions.

Not very fancied by the thought of having to put up a warning sign she thought her best option would be to walk past the infirmary in the direction of "the Dungeons" as Sheppard dubbed them a.k.a. Rodney's lab. He did have the best coffee blend on Atlantis and a knack for making it. It was a Rodney © trademark blend and all the ingredients were classified. She'd been working her charms for a while now to get the recipe out of him but so for no joy.

Huh, maybe he wouldn't be in his lab. Maybe he would be somewhere else (right, sure, of course it's only Rodney we're talking about here). Then she could sneak in there and borrow some of it (she was pretty sure she could convince to get Zelenka to analyze it). Although even if he wouldn't be there she was fairly certain his stash would be just as well protected as his chocolate supply.

Poking her head around the door she didn't see anything resembling Rodney. Moving stealthily (well as stealthily as she could manage) through the room she scanned the room. It was complete devoid of any coffee like substances. No coffee but there was a sound. Following the sound she ended up at Rodney's office. He'd once told her that he never stepped foot into it because of the backlog of files he had to review and sign for Elizabeth. The odds were in her favor that, that was where he was hiding the goods.

Should she knock? Knocking no good. Knocking might tip him of off her approach. That would ruin the element of surprise and could also mean that she wouldn't be getting any coffee. Ever. Again. Nope he would just have to deal with her, she didn't want to give him a head start on hiding the goods and giving her his decoy coffee. (though even that tasted better then the canteen sludge) Fully expecting Rodney holding a bag of the goodiness to his chest and a protective look on his face she opened the door. Instead she was faced with a Rodney whose face was plastered against the keyboard of his laptop.

This would be the ideal time to hijack his coffeemaker and a bag of ground beans, she was faced with an almost impossible choice ; this was also the ideal time to pull a prank. Both things were guaranteed to cheer her up immensely. Deciding that the latter might just be more precious than the coffee (just showed how much she needed it), she started tiptoeing her way over to him. She almost keeled over when he suddenly turned sideways. For someone who was not a marine he was usually cunningly aware of changes in his environment. Deciding it was a false alarm she continued on with her journey.

Sticking out a finger to probe his cheek there was suddenly a pull to it. Confused she looked down at her finger and found that it was grabbed by a hand, a hand that was attached to Rodney McKay. Huh, well blame it on the coffee that the ninja moves didn't work. "Cadman what are you doing?"

"Getting coffee" looking at him as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

With a dubious look her way he said: "in my lab? You thought of all the places on Atlantis that I could find myself a nice cup of coffee I'll go to McKay's lab?"

"No, yes, well would you believe me if I told you that I'm here for the pleasure of your company?" Laura said.

"No" was the gruff answer. Then he looked at her through narrowed eyes. "You wouldn't to think that you could somehow get your hands on my majestic blend of a high dose caffeine boost that is the perfect mixture of bitter, but with a hint of vanilla and cinnamon now would you?"

"I wouldn't dare" she said with what she considered to be an angelic innocent virgin look. "But if you're offering?"

"I'm not."

"But if you are."

"I'm certain of the fact that I'm not."

"Well if you ever feel the need to tell someone, feel free to come to me."

"I'll keep that in mind, now I need to get back to work so if you would be as kind as to go and do something similar" he said. While his attention had already waned. She didn't like that. She still didn't have her coffee. It just wasn't fair.

"Rodney" she stamped her foot on the floor and waved her arms around. "All protest is futile, you will be assimilated. Sounds familiar in any way?"

"Cadman, have you been sneaking around again? I thought we'd made a deal about that." His eyes were quickly moving around the room to insure that all his secret hiding places were secure. She saw his eyes linger on the desk just a little too long. Time for some action. If he would just stand still for a moment instead of flailing all around the room, she was starting to get dizzy from just watching him. "Rodney would you just stand still for a moment. All I needed was some coffee and believe it or not the pleasure of your company."

She honestly didn't understand why they called him a genius. She considered him a friend. One of her best friends. And in moments like these, right before she got her coffee and her mind was still a little sleep deprived she couldn't help but think that his t-shirt fit him really nice. And those muscles, how would it feel if she ran her arms over them. At first she was scared that she had these thoughts about Rodney of all people but the more she thought about it the more natural it seemed.

Rodney was the only one who gave as good as he got. He had a very big heart. He would act gruff and grumpy but in the end he always did the right thing. He treated everybody the way they deserved to be treated. His heart held a special place for Miko, he always seemed to help her and keep Kavanaugh away from her.

Most of the people here didn't understand Meredith Rodney McKay. They didn't see beyond the gruff exterior that he put up. But Laura knew a defense mechanism when she saw one. His was humor and it worked for him. Rodney was keeping people at arm's length and Laura just wished that other people would see it for what is was and that he would let her in. He didn't deserve to be treated like an outcast.

"Really? The pleasure of my company? Mine? Somehow I think the coffee that you think (falsely I might add) I have stashed here seems like a better motivation for you. So sorry but I'm not falling for it."

She figured she could take the time to explain that it all started with coffee but that his company was an added bonus but decided that actions spoke louder than words. She walked over to him and put her hands on his chest. He was completely bewildered by her move so she could slowly edge them over to the desk. Pushing him down on it she wet her lips, thinking about what she would do to him now. She'd been fantasizing about this moment more often than she cared to admit the last few months. Well to hell with thinking, it wasn't as if her brain was functioning anyway and on with the kissing before Rodney smelled a chance to get away or turn it into a joke.

Just as he was about to make a comment, probably diminishing the situation she lowered her face to his. As if it could be any different there was bumping of noses and teeth scraping but then it was exactly as she had been fantasizing about. It would be to clichéd to say that it was more than she ever imagined so she wouldn't.

It was becoming necessary to breathe so she hesitantly moved back again. She was afraid to open her eyes of what she would see in Rodney's. She needed him to understand that this wasn't just a fluke. This was something that she wanted. And not a ruse to get anything from him. Slowly she lifted her eyelids up to look at him. She'd been expecting that as soon as he was free again he would try to get as far as way as possible from her and he didn't disappoint her.

"Well I would say what on earth just happened but it doesn't really ring true here on Atlantis now does it" Rodney said with his usual dose of self depreciating sarcasm. "We kissed Rodney. That is what just happened. And I for one wanted it to happen. And I would really like for it to happen again."

"And I should believe that you just woke up this morning with the need to kiss me? Hmm what to do today, o wait I know I'll just go to Rodney's lab to show him how much I want him" Rodney bit out. "Yes because that is so believable." He kept on pacing around the lab.

"Why can't you just accept that I like you. And yes I even want to kiss you. Is it really so hard to believe that? I would like for there to be something between us. If you don't I will accept that but don't you dare to blame that on me. Just be honest and say that you're not interested."

Turning around on his feet he turned to her. "Yes, what is not to like about a beautiful woman throwing herself at my feet. Telling me she wants to start something with me. Yeah that's is not the issue. But you can tell me the plan now. Where is the hidden camera? Do you all get a nice feeling out of this?"

How dare he. She said: "As much as you'd like to believe that is the case so that you don't have to deal with me you're wrong. I am here of my own volition and I still haven't heard that you don't want me. Don't pin this on me and just tell me to leave. The last statement was delivered in such a furious yet hurt tone that it got to him.

"I believe you, it's just I have an issue. I have lots of issues but I have an issue. It's seems everybody always has some sort of game plan. That's the way I work. And you have no idea how badly I want something to happen between us it is just something I cannot shut off. If you really want this you'll have to be patient with me."

Before he had the chance to raise his eyes from the ground were they had been during his speech to her face he was captured in a bone-crushing hug. "God you have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that. I was so afraid that you would be your own stubborn self."

And with that the issue was dealt with and they fell back in their normal routine. He knew that she would stick by him by saying that. "I think that this calls for coffee don't you?"

Years and years later she would tell people "We bonded over a mutual understanding on the art of coffee making."

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A/N: I read the polarity reverse/penguin joke somewhere ( on I think) but I couldn't find it anymore. I thought it was brilliant and I just had to use it. The credit for that one goes out to whoever came up with it.


End file.
